JAIPUR: In Rajasthan, the Congress party is witnessing a transformation from conflict to camaraderie between the until now warring factions led by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and former Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot.
The party leadership's move to nominate Pilot to the Congress Working Committee (CWC) seems to be yielding results.
The portrait of Gehlot is back on Pilot's social media accounts. The party workers' meeting held at Tonk on Tuesday (August 22) saw the enthused presence of Pilot and his supporters. No leaders were given a miss on posters and advertisements.
This was not so from the time Congress came to power in 2018 till lately. As Pilot took a confrontational stance against Gehlot, both factions ensured that the images of rival leaders were kept out on propaganda materials. But there is a change now.
Proof of change in the Tonk meeting
While addressing the party workers in Tonk, Sachin Pilot adopted a more measured approach and refrained from making any comments against the Gehlot administration.
Later, when addressing the media, Pilot trained guns on the BJP.
"PM Modi and other national leaders of the BJP are trying to wake up the party that has gone into snooze mode in Rajasthan. But the BJP government at the Centre is a failure. The party has failed as an opposition in Rajasthan. BJP cannot come to power in the state," he said.
Gehlot, in turn, came out in support of Pilot when national convenor of BJP's IT cell, Amit Malviya blamed Sachin's father and late leader Rajesh Pilot for the Aizawl bombing of March 5, 1966. Gehlot slammed BJP for insulting the late leader.
This newfound camaraderie has enthused the Congress workers in Rajasthan. They feel that this would augur well for the party in the upcoming Assembly elections.